Eli5: how truly random are the hands in a cribbage app?

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Is it random or is each hand scripted as in if I don’t play a certain hand well will the computer make its cards to help its hands right there or is it actually using pre determined cards and just getting lucky?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

There are two types of random numbers, “true” and pseudo random numbers. True random numbers are usually obtained from collecting entropy (truly random information) from stochastic physical systems such as short-term radioactive decay or types of noise. Pseudorandom numbers typically use an equation of some type to generate “seemingly” random numbers, meaning that If you knew the configuration of the pseudorandom number generator, you could predict every number that comes afterwards.

To answer your question, if the game is programmed to use either source of randomness, the hands will not follow any sort of human-detectable pattern. If it were pseudorandom, you could technically figure out which cards you’ll get before they are dealt. There is also the possibility that the game fudges the RNG to make the game more interesting.

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